Sunman-Dearborn Continues to See Strategic Plan Alignment and Progress

The school corporation approved a new five-year strategic plan in June.

(St. Leon, Ind.) - Sunman-Dearborn Community School Corporation approved a new five-year strategic plan in June, 2022. The school is already seeing progress towards the goals and objectives as well as significant alignment.

The plan creates objectives and goals in the areas of Core Instruction, Resources, Financial, Culture/Climate/Safety, and Leadership/Service and serves as a roadmap for the school corporation and its employees for the next five years.

This year, the school corporation received a waiver from the Indiana Department of Education to allow for an early release day each month for teachers to receive professional development on instruction, ensuring the school corporation meets the Core Instruction Goal to deliver quality instruction through consistent implementation of research-based best practices.

The current $54 million building project is in the third and final year. Also, the school corporation is investing nearly $800,000 in technology this year to update and improve the network infrastructure, replace over 1,000 Chromebooks for students, and replace over 300 desktops for our staff. The investment in our facilities and technology has made significant progress towards the goal to provide state-of-the-art facilities, equipment, and technology to develop and strengthen students’ abilities, preparing them for their future goals and aspirations.

Sunman-Dearborn continues to maintain a healthy and responsible cash balance, while continuing to be the highest compensated staff in Southeastern Indiana, when comparing combined salary and benefits with other local school corporations. In addition, Sunman-Dearborn recently received notification their 2023 budget was approved by the Department of Local Government Finance, which established a property tax rate of $1.115 - the 2nd lowest property tax rate in the history of the school corporation. The budget and tax rate are consistent with the Strategic Plan Core Value of Stewardship - “We serve students by being good stewards of the public resources and making all decisions in an honest, ethical, and transparent manner.”

“Our current Strategic Plan continues to be our compass. Both our prior Strategic Plan and current Strategic Plan start with the board’s vision of what the school corporation will and can be in five years. Our progress and growth is not accidental or by happenstance. It is the intentional and focused effort and dedication of our staff working together,” Dr. Jackson, Superintendent.

Dr. Jackson continues, “Watch Sunman-Dearborn is more than just a hashtag. It represents the pride our staff, students, parents, and community have in our schools and the continued growth and improvements we will accomplish together.”

You can find out more information about the Five-Year Strategic Plan by going to the website at https://www.sunmandearborn.k12.in.us/information/strategic-plan. From there, you can also click on the Strategic Plan Dashboard to track the progress.